


Pins, Needles, and Butterflies

by lemondoddle



Category: Archive 81 (Podcast)
Genre: Cuddling, Fluff, M/M, Not Beta'd, THERE WAS ONLY ONE BED, as a treat, i also think nick should get to be embarrassed more, nick and static man can have little a tender nighttime cuddling
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-08-10
Updated: 2020-08-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 00:21:05
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,729
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25814218
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lemondoddle/pseuds/lemondoddle
Summary: “Thank you but uh, and I don’t mean to offend you, you sitting in that armchair pointed at the bed while I sleep is a bit..”“Sleep paralysis demon-y? Oh totally.” Static Man paused and his static seemed to flicker in an odd way.”You know,” Nicholas had a feeling that if Static Man had a face he would not trust the look on it right now. “This bed is super roomy, we could totally share, dude,like if you’re cool with that, yeah?”
Relationships: Static Man/Nicholas Waters
Comments: 9
Kudos: 74





	Pins, Needles, and Butterflies

**Author's Note:**

> i cannot believe that archive 81 put static man and nick in TWO potential "there was only one bed" scenarios and didnt give us either how rude, so here's me combatting that and it got way more tender than i was planning but it be like that sometimes also im very new to writing fanfics

“Hello, and welcome to Moody’s Family Friendly Motel and Rest Stop where we promise to treat you like the family we never had. Would you two like to rent a room?” the Clerk asked with all the interest and energy of a beached dolphin.

“Yeah, can we get-”

“-Sure thing here’s your key if you go down that hallway to your left it’ll be the first door you see if you need anything let me know.” The look in her eyes was communicating to not actually bother her if they needed something, and with that she dropped the key into Nicholas’ palm, turned around and headed through a back door Nicholas doesn’t remember being behind the counter before. He sighed and turned to Static Man.

“Well, guess we should find our room then.”

“Right on,” Static Man gave an approximation of a thumb’s up and followed Nicholas’ lead.

The room itself wasn’t hard to find. True to the Clerk’s word, it was the first door available down the eerily long hallway, and considering the rest of the room “doors” were painted onto the wall, it cut a lot of the guessing down. Nicholas jammed the room key in the door, opened up the room, and froze for a moment, taking in the scene before him. The room was just as surreally decorated as the diner and lobby; disorienting wall art, an armchair with fingers, a purple toad alarm clock, but Nicholas’ eyes landed on one key aspect: the bed. Singular. Hm.

Nicholas was slightly interrupted from his staring by Static Man pushing past him. “Woahoho, Check this out! This really is starting to feel like one of those shitty road trip comedy movies, but like, super weird and fucked up, ya feel me?” He didn’t seem to notice Nicholas’ bed gawking as he moved towards it and half-hopped, half-phased onto the mattress. “Yo, are these water beds made of like, actual water? This is pretty dope actually, I knew a- yo are you good Nick? You’ve been standing there for a little bit, and not gonna lie, it’s kinda weirding me out.”

“Huh? Oh, yeah sorry about that I just. I noticed that the Clerk only, uh, gave us a room with one bed..” Nicholas replied while trying to parse out the jumping of his nerves.

“Ah. So she did.” Static Man seemed unbothered by this development and continued to get comfortable on the bed, the water refracting against his static in a frankly hypnotising manner.

“I can, uh, just take the armchair, it doesn’t look like the fingers will be too in the way…”

“What? Dude, no. I like, can’t get a backache from sleeping wrong and you’ve been driving for who knows how many hours, I can take the armchair it’s cool.”

“Thank you but uh, and I don’t mean to offend you, you sitting in that armchair pointed at the bed while I sleep is a bit..”

“Sleep paralysis demon-y? Oh totally.” Static Man paused and his static seemed to flicker in an odd way.”You know,” Nicholas had a feeling that if Static Man had a face he would not trust the look on it right now. “This bed is super roomy, we could totally share, dude,like if you’re cool with that, yeah?”

Nicholas didn’t know what to think. It wasn’t that he was necessarily bothered by the concept of sharing a bed with someone, no, that was the least of his worries. It was the ‘with Static Man’ part that caught him up, but he wasn’t exactly sure why. Nicholas trusted Static Man of course, they’d been hanging out for the better part of two years but they hadn’t been this...physically close and vulnerable with each other before. Nicholas began to rationalize that he was just wary about the potential danger. If looking directly at Static Man for too long gave him a headache, how would sleeping right next to him fare? What if his teeth nicked him in his sleep? How would the static feel if he got too close? What if he liked it?

...Wait what?

“-Yo, Earth to Major Tom! You good dude? We don’t have to share if you’re uncomfortable, I can take the floor or somethin’,” Nicholas was ripped out of his thoughts by Static Man’s voice, and then promptly panicked when he processed the words the other said.

“No no, Static Man, it’s fine! We can share, I’m not uncomfortable I just… zoned out for a moment, sorry…” Static Man shot what Nicholas assumed was a look at him, but brushed it off and got up.

“Welp, I’m not too keen on dragging this ritual out any longer than it needs to be, so I’m gonna get started on brushing my teeth. I might be awhile, there’s kind of a lot of them, so I’ll let you get ready,” and with that, Static Man moved into the bathroom, leaving Nicholas alone with his very fast thoughts. Thoughts that wondered why he agreed to sleeping next to Static Man, thoughts that wondered if Static Man moved a lot or spoke in his sleep, thoughts that wondered when his view of Static Man had shifted and why he was just realizing this now. Thoughts and Static Man and thoughts and Static Man. It was all getting a little overwhelming. Nicholas pushed on and was only a little shaky changing into some comfortable clothes to sleep in and realized that he needed to brush his teeth too, which meant he couldn’t just get into bed and pretend to already be asleep by the time Static Man came back. Damn, there goes that plan.

“Alright dude, bathroom’s all yours. Well, except for my toothbrush. I’m cool with sharing the bed but I gotta draw the line somewhere okay?” Nicholas gave him an earnest chuckle and headed towards the bathroom. After brushing his teeth, splashing water in his face, and spending probably too long looking into the mirror and amping himself up, Nicholas walked back into the bedroom. The lights were already off, the room only lit by the moonlight from a moon not visible in the only window. Static Man was laying on the near side of the bed, resting on his back with his hands placed behind his head as if he were laying on a swinging hammock. Nicholas expected no less from him, but it was still difficult to tell whether or not he was actually asleep, what with the lack of eyes or breathing, but his static fuzz seemed to jitter a bit more calmly, showing that he was at least relaxed. When Nicholas realized he was once again staring, he took a breath and quietly padded towards the other side of the bed and slipped in. Or at least tried to slip in, but he underestimated the bounciness of the water and cringed as the water sloshed around but never left the vicinity of the mattress. The sloshing only furthered when he jumped at the sensation of static gently touching his arm.

“You okay dude?” Static Man whispered.

“Yeah- yeah, sorry about that, I’ll be..” Nicholas trailed off, finally settling down on his side and facing his companion who (approximately) did the same.

“Hey, I wasn’t asleep yet Nicholas, you don’t have to worry about waking me.” His voice was the quietest Nicholas had ever heard from him, that coupled with addressing him properly made the intimacy of the moment almost unbearable as something in Nicholas’ chest squeezed tightly. He felt like if he breathed wrong everything would shatter around him.

“Oh, okay…” he replied, voice incredibly small, staring just behind where Static Man’s shoulder should be.

“You… still okay sharing? You’re looking a little tense and I really don’t want to make you-’’  


“-You’re not, I promise,” Nicholas interrupted. “I just, it’s been awhile since I’ve… um…” he trailed off, shoving his face a bit into the pillow in hopes that Static Man wouldn’t notice the heat on his face.

“Got something you’d like to share with the class?” the smug grin was practically dripping from his voice, and oh god did it make Nicholas want to kiss him so he’d shut the hell up.  
Nicholas, however, did not do that as he wasn’t feeling quite as brave or stupid in this moment. What he did instead was fondly roll his eyes and reach a tentative arm out towards the other, giving plenty of room for Static Man to back away if he wanted to. Static Man did not back away as Nicholas rested his arms around his sort-of chest , but moved closer as well, vague limbs sprouting out and wrapping around Nicholas’ back. At all of this contact, Nicholas let out a small gasp.

“Oh shit, are you okay? Is it hurting you?” Static Man began to pull away, but that only made Nicholas cling tighter.

“It’s not painful, I promise,” he paused. “It’s just a little odd. It’s like… have you ever eaten something you’re allergic to and your mouth starts to feel all numb and tingly? It’s like that but all over, and it’s not a bad thing! It’s… it’s nice…”

Static Man huffed out a laugh, “Like allergies, you flatter me dearly Nicholas Waters.” This seemed to be the final straw for Nicholas’ poor heart, because all he could do was stuff his face into Static Man’s ‘chest’ and mumble a strained “go to bed.”

“Ten-four dude,” Static Man whispered, voice full of affection. They laid like that for a good while before eventually drifting off, comforted by the sensation and closeness of the other.

The next time a bed issue arose, there was no hesitation. “There’s only two beds, one of you can sleep in the car.” The Clerk informed them with what could only be described as negative excitement.

“Nah it’s cool, we can just share it, but dibs on the good pillow!” Static man was already making his way over to claim his territory on the new bed, meanwhile Nicholas turned to the Clerk.

“Did you… intentionally give us one bed back at the motel?”

“Didn’t I just tell you that the Moody’s chain manifests what you desire?” The clerk seemed to show the first non-apathetic facial expression since the pair had encountered her, the smallest of satisfied smiles as she watched Nicholas’ face turn three shades darker.

**Author's Note:**

> hey thanks for reading! uhh you can find me on tumblr with the same user if you wanna chat or something :P


End file.
